Reuters Science News Summary

Following is a summary ​of current ​science news ‌briefs.

NASA's Perseverance ​rover breaks record for off-planet driving on Mars

While ‌no person has ever set foot on Mars, humankind has managed to conduct ‌extensive explorations of the surface of Earth's ‌planetary neighbor using robotic rovers. One of them, NASA's six-wheeled Perseverance rover, has now ⁠set ​a record ⁠for the longest distance driven by any vehicle ⁠on a world beyond Earth. The US space ​agency has announced that the car-sized Perseverance ⁠has trekked 28.1 miles (45.2 km) since arriving ⁠on Mars ​roughly 5-1/2 years ago, passing the distance mark previously established by ⁠another NASA rover, Opportunity, from 2004 to 2018. ⁠Perseverance ⁠and Opportunity both also beat the driving distances of any ‌rover ‌that operated on ​the moon.